Homicide By Any Other Name
by EquestrianCSI
Summary: Lindsey, Danny and Hawkes must find out what's happened in a NYC apartment. No ties to the show, folks.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The apartment was located in part of one of the oldest tenements in New York City. At the turn of the century, it had housed not only Irish and Italian immigrants at one time or another, but had also been one of the famous brothels in the city during late 1800s. But now, it housed mainly lower-income, blue-collar workers who worked many jobs that a lot of people wouldn't dream of doing. It was Danny, Lindsey and Sheldon Hawkes who were the first to arrive on the scene. The tenants in the building had been complaining of a foul odor coming from the apartment belonging to an elderly man and his single daughter. No one had heard from either of them in some time, and the neighbours began to fear the worst. Sure enough, standing in front of the door, All three could smell the stench of decomp coming from the inside of the house, along with another stronger, heavier smell that told a different story.  
"Agh," Danny gagged, "That's animal feces, Hawkes." He said, covering his mouth and nose with his forearm.

Sheldon shook his head as he raised his fist to knock on the door. "Looks like the neighbours would've called sooner than this," he said, when a quiet voice behind them caused all three men to jump in surprise.

"We didn't want no trouble," Said the small, wiesend old woman standing on the stoop of the apartment across the hall.  
Lindsey frowned, and cautiously approached her.  
The little woman was no more than 4 foot tall, and a brightly coloured afghan hung around too-thin shoulders. Her hair was arranged in a neat bun at the back of her head, and it was a beautiful silvery gray. She was very well-groomed, and Lindsey could tell by her posture that she was a very proud person. Her ivory and black linen dress came down to the tops of her black sturdy shoes.

"Who are you?" Lindsey asked, and the woman placed her hand over her heart.  
" Name's Maddie Lorraine DeAngelo," she said, her chin tilted up to see Lindsey's face.

"I've lived here for 57 years, and those people across the hall; they're best left alone.  
Sheldon and Danny came to stand beside Lindsey.

"How long have they lived here?" Lindsey asked, and Ms. DeAngelo shrugged.  
"Too long, if you ask me. But I'd say a good three or four years. They keep to themselves, and if you so much as say 'boo' to them, they give you a look that would freeze your heart."

Danny stepped forward and Ms. DeAngelo's deep blue eyes skittered up and down his frame before resting on a point just below his chin.

"Has anyone seen them lately?" He asked, and the little old woman sighed, shaking her head.

"No, not since the girl moved out about six or eight weeks ago. Made quite a lot of noise doing it. 'Course, all of us were glad to see her go, seeing as how she was so rude all the time. Just never did make friends with anyone."

Ms. DeAngelo seemed to be in need of some company, as she was getting quite chatty.

"When my husband Sal was alive, we knew all the neighbours. That was along time ago, though.

"Okay, Ms. DeAngelo," said Danny, pulling out a card and handing it to her. "If you notice anything, or have anymore information about them, let me know, okay"

Ms. DeAngelo peered at the card, holding it against the tip of her nose. Finally, she looked up at Danny and grinned broadly, showing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth.

"I sure will," she said, and waved to the three CSIs before going back into her apartment and shutting the door firmly.

"We'd better get started," Danny said, eyeing the door to the stinking apartment they'd originally come to investigate. "It's not going to get any prettier just because we're standing here visiting with the neighbours." He said, and knocked again at the door.

Again, his knock went unanswered. Danny looked around at Lindsey and Sheldon.  
"Here we go," he said, and kicked the door in with his foot.

"Holy shit!" Gagged Danny, as the scents of decomp and decaying filth hit them full in the face.

"My God," Lindsey said, breathing through her mouth as the three of them looked at each other in horror.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

The apartment door crashed back on rusty hinges when Danny kicked it in. The dimly lit room reeked with decaying flesh, animal feces and trash. Two large cats zipped through the open front door and down the stairs, seemingly running for their lives.  
"Call animal control," Danny said as he held the collar of his sweater up over his nose.

Sheldon was punching the number into his cell phone, and Danny pulled the door closed again. Lindsey was doubled over, gagging from the horrible smell. She rarely had this reaction to anything, and Danny knew that it must be bad, if she were having problems with the smells.

"I guess we'd better go in," Danny grumbled, and looked around at the others for confirmation.  
Grimly, the three stepped gingerly into the apartment, holding their flashlights up and shining them around the room. Several cats scattered, looking for places to hide, and yet another cat raced out the open front door. "Is someone still living here?" Lindsey asked, and Danny shrugged.  
"I've seen it before," he said. "People that either can't, or won't clean up after themselves. It's unbelievable, some of the stuff you find." he said.  
As if to comfirm his statement, the beam of his light bounced across a heap of cat dung in the corner of the living room floor. The once-cream coloured carpet was sickly yellow in places from cat urine, and the stench was so bad, it caused their eyes to water.  
"How can they let it get so bad?" Lindsey asked, not able to grasp the concept of living in a garbage dump.

Empty food and drink containers littered the floors and counter tops, and dirty, stinking dishes were piled high in the sink. A few, no doubt knocked down by hungry cats, lay scattered across the kitchen floor. Piles of trash, boxes of junk, and several feline corpses were heaped everywhere, with just a small path to walk from room-to-room. A loud miaowing from underneath a coffee table caused Lindsey to bend over and look. Staring back at her was a thin, nearly hairless black, half-grown kitten, it's eyes huge in it's skeletal face.  
"Poor thing," Lindsey muttered as they made their way down the hall, dodging the cats that ran across their path.

Roaches scuttled along the floors and walls, and Lindsey jumped as one crawled across her hand.

"Damnit!" she swore, and Danny looked around at her.  
"You okay Montana?" He asked, and she nodded.  
"I hate roaches," she explained, and he grinned at her before leading them into the bigger of the two bedrooms.  
Cats, all of various ages, were everywhere. Apparently, the bedroom was their favourite spot in the whole apartment. Seeing nothing but more trash, feces, and cats, the team moved on into the next bedroom as the smell of decomp began to outweigh the all-powerful odor of cat waste. Sheldon was having his own problems, as one cream-coloured, siamese-cross cat was busily winding her way around and between his feet. Another thin grey tabby followed closely behind.

"I think we found something," Danny said, and directed his flashlight onto the twin bed positioned beneath the window. Hawkes and Lindsey peered over his shoulder, their eyes still watering from the atrocious smells. Lying on the bed upon a urine-stained quilt and surrounded by newspapers, an empty juice bottle and several cats, lay the badly decomposed body of an elderly man.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Across town, Stella and Mac stood inside the sallyport of the Queensbourogh Correctional Facility. A trail of blood led from the dining hall, through the sallyport and ended a few feet away where the body of a large male inmate lay in the grass beside the walkway. The blood-slick handle of a common toothbrush stuck out of his neck, and his state-issued shirt was soaked dark red.  
Next to Stella, stood the warden, a tall, thin man with graying hair at his temples.

"Who found the body?" Mac asked, and the warden shook his head, focussing on the guard tower at the edge of the prison yard.

"Lacy Dalton, but she's in shock; I sent her to the infirmary." He said, and Stella spoke.

"We need to talk to her, if at all possible. She might have seen something, heard something."

The warden removed his sunglasses, rubbing at an invisible smudge on the dark lenses before replacing them over his eyes.

"She's one of my best guards. I don't want her to be bothered right now. I'm sending her home as soon as she gets herself composed." He said; Mac and Stella exchanged looks.

"Don't make me get a warrent, Warden." Mac said, and the Warden sighed.

"I'll take you to the infirmary, but she starts getting upset, and you're out of here. Got it?" He asked.  
Mac nodded.  
"Fair enough." The warden led Stella away, leaving Mac to process the crime scene.

Something didn't set well with Mac, and he stared after the warden and Stella until they'd gone through a door leading into the main building. He sighed, opened his field kit, and began processing the body.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Seventeen live cats and four dead cats had been removed from the small apartment before Sid removed the elderly man's body. The extensive decompositon showed that the corpse had been there at least two weeks, and judging by the looks of it, the remaining cats had been surviving off the body for just about as long. Danny and Lindsay had processed the scene as quickly as possible, so that animal control could work without compromising evidence.

Now, they stood outside the apartment door, watching as the last of the animals were rounded up and placed in crates by the animal control officers. One AC officer stood with them.

"How can someone call that living?" Lindsay asked, her nose and mouth still covered by a disposable mask.

The AC officer, a man in his mid-30s, shook his head as he held a piece of guaze over a nasty cat bite on his arm.

"This is what we call a hoarding situation," he explained.

"The hoarder isn't necessarily a bad person, but feels like they're the only people that can help the animals, but they're actually doing more harm than good." He said, and Danny indicated the bloody gauze the man was tending to.

"You gonna be alright?" Danny asked, and the AC officer nodded, wincing as he peeked under the guaze.

"I've had worse," he said, adding;

"This is a paper cut compared to what a boxer did to me last year." He pulled up his pant leg, exposing his calf.

An angry red scar twined around his leg, from his ankle, almost to his knee. Part of his calf was missing, making it look deformed and ugly.

"Shit," Danny breathed, and the AC officer grinned.

"Yeah; took over 80 stitches," He said, and pulled his pant leg down again.

Danny looked at Lindsay, who was watching Sid wheel the gurney with the body on it between piles of garbage and cat feces.

"Let's get out of here; grab some lunch and get back to the lab. We need to find out where this guy's daughter's disappeared to." he said, and Linday nodded, heading for the stairs.

"How can you think of lunch after being in there?" she asked incredulously, once they were out on the street again.

Her clothes and hair reeked of the heavy smells they'd encountered in the apartment, and Lindsay was quite sure she could never get the sight of the desperate, starving animals out of her mind.

"Mind over matter," said Danny, and hugged her to his side briefly.

"You'll learn, Montana;" he assured her.

"You stink," she said playfully, pushing away from him

Danny looked down at her, a half grin on his face.

"You don't exactly smell like roses yourself," he quipped as he opened the car door for her to get inside.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lacy Dalton sat in a small, stark and sparsely furnished exam room in the prison's Infirmary. Slightly overweight with her blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail, she sat hunched and silent, her blue eyes red from crying. She looked up when the warden entered the room, ushering Stella ahead of him. He pulled off his sunglasses, and gave Lacy a piercing look.

"This CSI wants to talk with you, Ms. Dalton," he said, and Lacy looked from him to Stella, who didn't notice the warning look in his eyes from behind her.

The other woman nodded, and Stella didn't miss the expression of fear on Lacy's face. She turned to the warden.

"If you could leave us alone for a few minutes?" Stella asked, taken aback when the warden shook his head.

"It's either me, or another officer. I'm not leaving her alone with anyone," he said.

Stella bit her lip thoughtfully; she wanted to tell the warden what she thought of that, but seeing the pleading look on the young officer's face, she just nodded.

The warden stepped back, leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He'd put his shades back on, rendering the expression in his cold grey eyes invisible. Stella cleared her throat.

"You were the one that found the body of Lance Talkington, right?" she asked, and Lacy nodded, dabbing at her eyes with a kleenex.

"Did you notice anything? A fight, a disagreement beforehand?" Stella asked, and Lacy glanced over Stella's shoulder at the warden, then back at Stella.

"There was a minor argument in the line between Talkington and another convict," she stated, her voice trembling.

"What's this guy's name?" She asked, her pen poised over her notepad.

Lacy hesitated, looking down to the floor for a split second before glancing again at the warden and finally to Stella.

"Raymond Cizon," she said, almost in a whisper.

Stella frowned and then raised her eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" she asked, but before Lacy could answer, the warden spoke up.

"Of course she's sure. She told me the same thing. Don't question her intellegence."

Lacy's eyes filled up with tears again, and Stella rounded on the warden, her jaw set, and one hand clamped around the wrist of the hand holding her notepad.

"I need Ms. Dalton to answer my questions, Warden." She informed him, a dangerous undertone in her voice.

The warden ripped off his sunglasses, and stepped forward.

"Ms. Dalton is done talking to you," he said, and opened the door.

Stella capped her pen, turned to Lacy, and gave her a reassuring look.

"Thank you, Ms. Dalton," she said, and walked toward the door, sweeping past the warden on her way out the door.

The warden followed Stella out, closing the door on Lacy Dalton. Stella said nothing, but she was making a mental note of the interaction between herself and the warden. Something was off, and she would talk to Mac about it later. Little did she know that Mac was harbouring the same thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sid cut a deep Y-incision from the shoulders all the way down to the groin of the elderly man found in an apartment full of cats. The body itself reeked of cat smell, the odor having clung to the man's clothing and seeped into his very skin. Sid was used to all sorts of smells, but the combination of decomp and cats was almost too much, even for him.

"Good God," he said, touching his wrist to the end of his nose.  
Danny walked in just in time to hear the ME's grumblings.

"Just when you think you've smelled it all," Danny quipped, standing next to Sid.

Sid turned, giving Danny a half smile. He had to admire the young man for not flinching at the smells in the room. Maybe his nose was stopped up.

"It's amazing how the human skin can absorb all sorts of odors, isn't it?" Sid asked as he took skin samples from the body.

"Yeah," said Danny; "I was more than happy to get out of my clothes after we processed the place. I think I'll just throw them away; don't know that I'll ever get the scent of cat pee out of them" he said, and Sid nodded.

"Looks like," Sid said, cutting into the lungs, his scalpel making a soft squelching,

"Our victim here had excessive emphesema, probably from years of heavy smoking."

He looked sideways at the young CSI beside him.

"If this doesn't convince you to quit that habit," he began, indicating the blackened lung tissue.

Danny grinned, holding up his hand.

"Yeah, I know." He said, and looked again at the lung tissue Sid had cut for a biopsy.

"So you think that's what killed him?" He asked, and Sid shook his head.

"Surprisingly, no." He jabbed at a lung with his scalpel.

"See the swelling of the bronchial tubes?" He asked, and Danny nodded.

"I'd say, without going any further," Sid pulled his glasses apart, allowing them to rest on his chest,

"Our victim here was allergic to cat dander."

Danny crossed his arms, nodding his head.

"Is that your official COD?" he asked, and Sid gave him another sideways glance.

"Since I've just started, no. But I won't rule it out. Anything's possible. Animal to human transmission of disease isn't a stretch. I just wonder what I'm going to find when I open up the heart. Some parasites can get into the organs and travel to the heart, brain, liver, eyes, and wreak havoc all over the place." He explained, and Danny sighed.

"When you find out what kind of havoc killed the man, let me know, will you?" Danny asked, and Sid nodded.

"Will do," he answered, and Danny slapped him on the back.

"Have fun," he joked, and Sid rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure I will." he said under his breath, and cut another piece of lung tissue for biopsy.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Stella tapped on the glass window of Mac▓s office. Looking up from his work, the detective motioned her inside.  
⌠What brings you here?■ He asked, and Stella opened the case file on Lance Talkington.

⌠I talked to Lacy Dalton at the prison this morning,■ she said, sitting down in a chair across from Mac▓s desk.

Mac nodded, and leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk.

⌠Something▓s fishy about this case, Mac,■ Stella said, and her supervisor sighed.

⌠A lot is fishy about this case,■ he said, causing Stella to raise an eyebrow.

⌠You noticed it to, didn▓t you?■ She asked, and Mac nodded again.

⌠That warden is hiding something, and I want to know what it is.■ he said.

Stella was relieved to know she wasn▓t the only one harboring suspicions about the warden at the prison.

⌠See if you can bring Lacey in for questioning away from the warden▓s eagle eye,■ he suggested, adding,  
⌠From what I can tell, he pretty well controls the guards with the same iron fist he does the convicts. I don▓t like the way his staff seems to be almost afraid of him.■

Stella bit her lip, tapping her pencil against her chin in thought.

⌠I hope asking her to come in doesn▓t cause any retaliation against her,■ Stella said.

⌠If it does,■ Mac said, the look in his eye hard,  
⌠We▓ll bring him up on harassment charges.

Stella stood, closing the file and putting it under her arm. ⌠I will give her a call and see if we can get her to come down then.■ She said, and at Mac▓s dismissive nod, left the office. 


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning dawned grey and cold, and Danny had just entered the crime lab when Lindsey came up to him, a sheaf of papers in her hand.

"Danny," she said, handing him the papers, "Our vic in the apartment yesterday," she began, and Danny nodded, scanning the files,

"I looked up the daughter, and found out she's got a record on file for animal neglect, and has been arrested once in New Jersey on suspicion of elder abuse." Danny gave a low whistle.

"Any idea where we can find this.." he read the name off the file, "Andrea Medford?" he asked, and Lindsey nodded.

"She's in a half-way house on Long Island. Apparently, she had a little bit of a drug problem, and that was part of the conditions of her probabtion for neglect," Lindsey explained.

"Maybe we should pay her a visit," Danny suggested, just as Sid walked up to them.

"You ready for cause of death on your cat-man?" he asked, and the CSI's turned to him.

"Sure," they said, almost in unison.

The ME beconed to them with a gloved hand, indicating for them to follow him to autopsy. Once there, they stood next to the steel gurney upon which the old man's body lay.

"His name is Robert Medford, according to his driver's liscense," Sid said, and picked up a plastic container from the tray beside him.

Inside was what looked to be a piece of greyish white brain matter.

"I took a biopsy of his brain," Sid began, turning the container back and forth as they looked on.

"Mr. Medford may very well be a victim of 'mad cat disease,' if you will," he said, and Lindsey and Danny exchanged looks.

"Don't you mean mad cow?" Danny asked, and Sid raised an eyebrow, placing the container back on the tray.

"Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or VCJ, affects the brain tissue and causes a Swiss cheese-like appearence. I'd just read up on a particular strain, Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy, that affects cats. There were dead cats in the apartment, right?" He asked, and Danny nodded.

"You didn't happen to notice any of the other cats acting strangely, did you? Unsteadiness, slobbering, signs of neurological problems?" He questioned again, and Lindsey gasped.

She thought back to the emaciated, nearly bald black kitten under the coffee table amidst the squalor of the apartment where Robert Medford died. The poor animal had stared back at her with fear, desperation and pleading in his eyes, and she'd felt a pang of pity at the sight of him. She thought hard, trying to remember if he had behaved strangely.

"The kitten I saw under the table, Danny," she turned to him, but he just shook his head.

"What kitten?" He asked, frowning.

Lindsey waved an impatient hand at him and turned to Sid.

"He was so thin and bald; I don't remember him acting odd, but I didn't sit and watch him, either." She said, and Sid nodded.

"I'm going to need that cat, if he's not already been euthanised," the ME said.


	9. Chapter 9

Stella stared at the computer monitor, her eyes wide as she read the results. Mac happened to enter the lab at the exact moment she'd dialed his cell phone.

"You called, Stella?" He asked, and she jumped and turned to see him standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, I got a hit in CODIS on the partial fingerprint found on the toothbrush lodged in Lance Talkington's throat," she said, and Mac raised an eyebrow.

"The dead inmate at the prison?" He asked, and Stella nodded.

"Yeah, Jeremiah Williams, the Warden." She said, indicating the computer monitor.

Mac stepped closer, scanning the information on the screen. It was the same Warden who's behaviour at the crime scene had caused both detectives to make notations in their reports.

"He sure didn't like us being there," Mac said, and Stella nodded.

"I couldn't hardly interview Lacy Dalton. He asked me to leave before I'd finished talking to her," Stella said, and looked up at Mac.

"Looks like our Warden's got a history of domestic abuse," Mac observed, reading the synopsis from CODIS.

"See if you can get Ms. Dalton to come in for an interview," he said and turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Stella asked, and Mac turned again to face her.

"I'm going back to talk to Warden Williams," he explained.

"I don't like what I'm seeing, and I have a feeling our Warden is hiding something."

Turning, he left the lab, leaving Stella to contact Lacy Dalton. She frowned as the phone rang and rang, but Lacy didn't answer. Something wasn't right, and Stella closed out the CODIS results and turned to leave, planning on paying a visit to Ms. Dalton's residence. There was a sense of urgency in her voice as she phoned Lieutenant Flack.

"I need you to go with me on a welfare check," She told him as she walked down the hall.

"Sure thing," He said, and hung up the phone.

Something was very wrong about the whole thing, and Stella had a very bad feeling that what they were about to find out at Lacy Dalton's place wouldn't be good news.


	10. Chapter 10

Danny gingerly sat the plastic bag down on the autopsy table, looking around the room for Sid. The body of a car wreck victim lay on the steel table next to him,

and the sound of exhaust fans hummed overhead.

"Sid?" Danny said, and the door at the back of the room opened.

The ME, carrying a bone saw, greeted Danny with a harried expression.

"I don't suppose you've got a salami on rye in that bag do you?" he asked, setting the saw on the tray beside the car wreck victim.

Danny grinned, pushed his glass up on his nose, and shook his head.

"You should'a told me you wanted one, I could've got it on my way back," He said, and Sid laughed.

"I'll remember that. What do you have in the bag?" He came over to stand beside Danny.

"The cat Lindsay saw at the apartment," he explained, opening the top of the brown paper bag.

Pulling on a fresh pair of gloves, Sid reached into the sack and drew out the still, cold body of the small kitten that had miaowed so plaintively at Lindsay the day before. Laying it on the table, Sid put his glasses on.

"I've called in Dr. Paul Faulkner, he's a Veterinarian at Cornell University; he'll do the necessary tests for Feline Spongiform Encephalitis. I'm pretty sure our kitty or his roomates, are indirectly responsible for Robert Medford's death," he said, and Danny frowned.

"But how? Isn't VCD contracted by eating affected beef?" Danny asked, and Sid smiled.

"What did you find in the animal feeding dishes at the apartment?" he asked and Danny shrugged.

"I pegged it as lamb in the lab." He said, and Sid held up a finger.

"My initial reaction was VCD, then I thought about the fact that there is a strain in sheep too. We've got a case of cross-contamination, here, Danny," he said, and explained.

"The cats had lamb on a regular basis. I'm thinking the Medfords had a fondness for lamb, too." he pointed to the cat on the table.

Danny's eyebrows shot up.

"They ate the same stuff as the cats?" he asked, alarmed, and Sid shrugged.

"Looks that way. Judging from the lesions on Medford's brain tissue, he's been slowly succumbing to VCD for over 20 years. The meal in question could've happened long before the animal feed industry was required to stop using animal products in livestock feed," He said.

"So this is a natural death," Danny asked, and Sid shrugged.

"Not so fast," he said, and explained further.

"I also found signs of rat poison in the contents of his stomach. Unless it was an accidental ingestion, you're looking at murder." He said, and Danny nodded, thanked the ME, and left the room.

He had to go find Lindsay, and in turn, they had to find Robert Medford's daughter.


	11. Chapter 11

Stella knocked on the door of Lacy Dalton's apartment. She had an uneasy feeling about the whole situation, and she hoped her instincts this time were wrong. Judging from the newspaper still on the driveway, she wasn't too optimstic. Don Flack stood beside her, his gun at the ready. He'd not liked the scene either, and hoped that he wouldn't have to use his service weapon.

"Lacy Dalton," Stella called, knocking again,

"NYPD, we need to talk to you." She answered, but the house was silent.

Stella turned to look at Flack, who was trying to see between the slats of the blinds that covered the front window.

"I can't see jack shit in there," he said, frustrated, and Stella nodded, before raising her hand to knock again.

"Do you think maybe she's just at work," Flack asked, and Stella shook her head.

"They said she reported in sick this morning," Stella responded and Flack sighed.

"I hope I have a really good reason for this," he said, and with a strong kick, busted the front door wide open.

They entered the house, careful to keep their weapons drawn should someone come out at them. Stella moved through the living room while Flack went cautiously down the hall. Stella entered the kitchen and noticed a familiar odor. Walking to the stove, Stella saw that one of the knobs was turned on, allowing natural gas to seep through the house. Taking a quick picture with her digital camera, Stella turned the stove off immediately, and quickly checked the other knobs. Turning off the second one, she made sure the rest hadn't been touched, and was in the process of processing the stove when Flack called from the bedroom.

"You'll want to see this, Stella," he said, poking his head around the door facing. Stella followed, not really wanting to know what Flack had found.

Walking into the master bedroom, Stella got a whiff of gardenia, and saw the burned out gardenia candle sitting on the counter.Against the wall, closest to the closet, was a double bed with a white down comfortor on it. Only, the comforter was now splattered by bright red drops. Stella looked at the body of Lacy Dalton laying in the bed, looking very much asleep except for theh bullet hole between her eyes.


End file.
